Paris with ambitions to build the first “non-smoking generation” by 2032
The fight will be waged with high prices and widespread bans on smoking
Beaches, parks and forests become “tobacco-free spaces”
The Minister of Health of France, Aurelien Rousseau, presented in Paris a national plan to fight against smoking, which envisages that in ten years the country will practically become a country without cigarettes.
The declared total war on smoking will be waged by constantly increasing the price of cigarettes, which is now on average 10 euros per pack, in 2024 it should become 12 euros, in 2025 – 13 euros, etc. In addition, smokers will be driven out gradually by harsh punitive measures and from their few remaining places to hang out. The anti-tobacco propaganda will be especially strong, which will start in the early years and all modern media will be included in it.
“Increasing the price of cigarettes is really the most effective measure against smoking according to the World Health Organization and all independent studies on the subject,” said Aurelien Rousseau to journalists during the presentation of the national anti-smoking program. The program in question aims to build the first “tobacco-free generation” in France by 2032 – a personal commitment according to the minister and President Emmanuel Macron.
According to the head of the health department, in order to achieve this goal, the government will rely on two main levers – strengthening taxation on tobacco products and even stricter prohibitions related to their use. “Our aim is to make it difficult and even to cut off access to cigarettes, especially for the youngest French, as well as to encourage more strongly those who intend to quit smoking, especially the poorer people”, he stressed Aurelian Rousseau. That is why among the leading measures identified by the minister is the initially stated intention to make the package of 20 cigarettes less accessible through its significant and progressive increase in price.
The other important measure of Aurelian Rousseau is the ban of the so-called puffs or disposable electronic cigarettes, which are popular especially among young people and which, according to the minister, are dangerous both for health and for the environment. He emphasized that for the purpose of this ban, a special law would have been adopted on December 4, which had already been approved by the people’s representatives from all the parties represented in the parliament, regardless of whether they are left, right or centrist.
All beaches in the country, public parks, forests, areas around public places such as schools, hospitals, theaters, etc., will be declared “Smoke-free Spaces”. “A life without tobacco will become a law”, pointed out Aurelien Rousseau, adding: There are already more than 7,200 “tobacco-free spaces”, they are formed in 73 departments and are above all the result of the activity at the level of municipalities”.
The French government’s anti-tobacco plan also envisages stepping up initiatives to make tobacco products less attractive by introducing plain packaging without the brand’s logo on them. If smokers intend to quit, the ministry will help them through a system of rules and regulations called “My Prevention Assessment”, which will be triggered at “key ages” in life. As for the various players in the tobacco economy, and in particular tobacco producers, they will be supported “in their necessary transition to another trade”.
2023-12-01 22:52:06
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